DENVER -- Dansby Swanson saw something different within Pete Crow-Armstrong¡¯s three-hit performance in the Cubs¡¯ final game in Kansas City in late July. The veteran shortstop described it as a ¡°controlled, intentional process¡± that harnessed the energy and fire the rookie has consistently displayed.

After the team traveled to Cincinnati for the next series, Swanson fired off a text to the young center fielder.

¡°I was just like, ¡®Whatever side of the bed you woke up on today,¡¯¡± Swanson recalled with a chuckle, ¡®¡¯bro, whatever that was, we need that every day. We need that.¡¯¡±

Over the past six weeks, Crow-Armstrong has lived up to that request, showing the kind of all-around skill-set the Cubs dreamed of when they traded for him three years ago. While Chicago was dealt a morale-damaging 6-5 loss in 10 innings to the Rockies on Saturday night at Coors Field, Crow-Armstrong continued to show off his progress.

A little over one year ago, Crow-Armstrong made his MLB debut for the Cubs at Coors Field on Sept. 11 last season. When he went in as a pinch-runner for his first big league moment, he was listed as ¡°Unknown PR¡± on the scoreboard. On Saturday, Crow-Armstrong launched a home run (his ninth of the year) and stole a base (his 27th this season), much to the delight of the Cubs' fans who packed the stadium.

¡°The biggest thing is Pete knows that he's supposed to be here,¡± Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly said. ¡°He's a really good Major League player. I think last year, when he came up -- and even at the beginning of the year -- he was still trying to figure that part out. ¡®Do I belong here? Can I put up numbers here? Can I play every single day?¡¯

¡°What you¡¯re seeing now is he knows he belongs here, and everyone else knows that he belongs here.¡±

Beginning with the game Swanson pointed to in Kansas City on July 28, Crow-Armstrong has turned in a .308/.357/.510 slash line in his last 42 games. In that span, the 22-year-old center fielder has compiled six home runs, seven doubles, two triples, 27 RBIs, 27 runs scored and nine stolen bases.

Before that stretch, Crow-Armstrong had a .183/.233/.306 slash through his first 67 games this season, while Chicago gave him runway to gain experience amid the struggles through consistent at-bats and playing time. It was mentally challenging for the rookie, whose initial taste of the big leagues featured an 0-for-14 showing last September.

Asked how much the game has slowed down for him since his debut, Crow-Armstrong replied: ¡°A lot. A lot.¡±

What does he think is the driving factor behind that?

¡°It was just kind of like an ultimatum,¡± Crow-Armstrong said. ¡°I was tired of letting the bad affect my chances at being good. I lost sight a little bit of the fact that the process really works, when it didn¡¯t feel like it was working.¡±

Cubs manager Craig Counsell believes that Crow-Armstrong¡¯s zeroing in on a consistent daily routine has played an integral part in the young outfielder¡¯s progress.

¡°You're going to make mistakes, you're going to have bad stretches, you're going to have bad games, there's going to be self doubt,¡± Counsell said. ¡°Consistency of a routine gives you something that you control every day and that you succeed at every day, too, when you're going through bad times. And that's important.¡±

Crow-Armstrong agreed, but the ¡°self doubt¡± component that Counsell mentioned was also something the rookie said he really had to work on, too.

¡°I definitely think that you need routine for stability and kind of a road map,¡± Crow-Armstrong said. ¡°But you also need to realize that the routine and all this stuff doesn¡¯t matter if you don¡¯t have any sort of self belief and confidence going up into the box.¡±

To work on that, the outfielder has leaned on something Counsell told him in Spring Training in an effort not to let a bad play or at-bat stick in his mind.

¡°It¡¯s been a regular, active, everyday thought,¡± Crow-Armstrong said. ¡°[Counsell] told me just to show him that he can trust me to make the next play. To me, that's understandable, easy to digest, because it gives me a very singular and specific objective. And I think that it takes away from the kind of thoughts, feelings, emotions that aren't so productive in the present.¡±

After Saturday¡¯s loss -- one that kept the Cubs six games behind the Mets and Braves in the race for the National League¡¯s third Wild Card spot -- Crow-Armstrong took that same mentality as it relates to the team as a whole.

¡°We can¡¯t let this game define the last two weeks,¡± he said. ¡°And it won¡¯t.¡±